LG's Phone Unit Still Bleeding Money, Loses $172M In Q2 2018

LG Electronics published its consolidated financial report for the second quarter of the year earlier today, revealing positive performance across a majority of segments, but not smartphones. The company's mobile division saw sales drop to $1.92 billion, losing nearly $172 million over the three-month period ending June 30. Last quarter, LG's smartphone unit managed to generate $2.01 billion in sales with under $127 million in losses and while year-on-year comparisons are generally more interesting to investors, this sequential decline is now predicted to continue throughout the second half of 2018.

LG's mobile sales also declined in terms of annual performance, with the company primarily blaming that drop to the stagnation in the global smartphone market, particularly the Latin American segment where consumers are now losing interest in entry-level and mid-range devices as they appear to be holding on to their purchases for longer or are investing in more expensive options, presumably also with the goal of increasing the longevity of their handsets. The Seoul-based original equipment manufacturer also isn't particularly optimistic regarding its prospects in the flagship segment of the Android market as it's expecting rivals to up their game over the second half of the year, though it remains adamant to continue promoting the LG G7 ThinQ and LG V35 ThinQ in the coming months. The firm's latest financial report gave no indication of the LG V40 ThinQ being on the horizon, though most industry watchers are expecting that model to debut no later than fall and the handset itself may end up launching under an entirely different name.

LG's vehicle component unit also lost some $30 million over the last quarter but other divisions of the tech giant were highly profitable, allowing it to generate a $13.9 billion turnover and a $715.1 million income in Q2 2018. Whereas its revenue rose by 3.2-percent compared to the same period last year, LG's second-quarter bottom line ended up being 16.1-percent higher, suggesting the company's efforts aimed at increasing its profitability have been largely successful so far.

Dominik started at AndroidHeadlines in 2016. He’s approaching his first full decade in the media industry, with his background being primarily in technology, gaming, and entertainment. These days, his focus is more on the political side of the tech game, as well as data privacy issues, with him looking at both of those through the prism of Android. Contact him at [email protected]